Electron tube apparatus



March 15, 1960 R. B. NELSON ELEcTRoN TUBE APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9, 1954 ATTOE/VY March l5, 1960 R. E. NELSON 2,928,972

` ELECTRON TUBE APPARATUS Filed April 9, 1954 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 BcHApo/Vaso/v N VEN 70E Wfl/ ATTORNEY March l5, 1960 R. B. NELSON ELEcTRoN TUBE APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 9, 1954 Y Mm SN LE 6 CLV NW M a P A m 4 DM L4, 3 m .A ,4v :F ,www n ATTORNEY March 15, 1960 R. B. NELSON ELEcTRoN TUBE APPARATUSA 8 Sheets-Sheerl 4 Filed April 9, 1954 m a m. w A m DM @P @www ATTORNEY March l5, 1950 R. 5. NELSON 2,928,972

ELECTRON TUBE APPARATUS Fild April 9, 1954 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Gx Q e@ fhg u e q, 1 a Y Q \n "n" \1 mw u m f m gw 'd N Q a# Q Q 0\ g? :gf

gg a J f 6x f o `N w 'o j 5 ,P/cf/AeZ/Vasow /A/L/EA/roe 5*@/11 #Mfr March l5, 1960 Filed April 9, 1954 R. B. NELSON ELECTRON TUBE APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 @VHA/KM ATTORNEY March 15, 1960 R. B. NELSON ELEcTRoN TUBE APPARATUS 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed April 9, 1954 Nllm-HIIH-H /A/ VENTO/ ATTORNEY March 15, 1960 R. B. NELSON ELEcTRoN TUBE APPARATUS mllmulnlIH-H 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 @A mn mk Filed April 9, 1954 P/cf/Aeo/Vasom INVENTUR.

BY #Jar l -portion of the structure of Associates, Sian Carlos, fornia Application April 9, i954, Serial No. 422,059 '7 Claims. (Ci. 313-33) Calif., a corporation of Cati- T'ns invention relates generally, to electron tubes and associated apparatus and the invention has reference, more particularly, to a novel velocity modulation tube of the ioating drift tube klystron type and apparatus associated therewith. Klystron tubes of the floating drift tube type have certain inherent advantages in that but a single resonator is employed having both velocity modulation and energy extraction gaps so that in use it is merely necessary to tune this single resonator to tune the tube to a desired frequency. However, these tubes as heretofore constructed have often been unsatisfactory in use owing to excessive heating of the floating drift tube without adequate means for cooling same and also because the tuning range has been somewhat limited.

Another feature of the invention is to provide a novel electron tube of the above character that is of extremely rugged and reliable construction, said tube having a novel focusing cathode structure that is extremely rigid and firmly fixed in relation with respect to the remaining elements of the tube thereby substantially eliminating microphonics.

Another feature is to provide a tube of the above character that uses magnetic focusing of the tube beam together with a specially designed catcher cavity so shaped that, when taking into consideration the space charge repulsion of the electrons of the beam, substantially all portions of the collecting surface' of the cavity receive uniform numbers of electrons, thereby eliminating hot spots, the said collector structure having a novel water cooling circulatory system.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent after a perusal of the following specication taken in connection with the ,accompanying drawings wherein,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view with parts broken away of the novel electron tube and associated apparatus of Vthe present invention,

Fig.,2 is a plan view from the bottom of the structure on Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the apparatus shown in Fig. l, the view being taken along the lines 3 3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of another portion of the structure of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5A is a detailed sectional view along SA-SA of Fig. `5,

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of still another portion of the structure of Fig. 3,

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the structure of Fig. 7,

Fig. 9is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line y9fans nig. s, and

and are respectively rigidly connected 2,923,972 Patented Mar. l5, 1960 Figs. 10A and 10B are schematic views for the theory of operation of the tuning plunger. Similar characters of reference are used in figures to designate corresponding parts.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, reference numeral l designates the novel electron tube and associated apparatus of this invention, said tube comprising essentially a cathode assembly 2, a collector assembly 3, a resonator assembly 4, tuning assemblies 5 and 5', floating drift tube supporting structure 6, waveguide output feed 7, focusing coil-assemblies 8 and 8', core and supporting framemember 9, and power supplies 10.

Referring to Figs. 3, 4.and 5, the cathode assembly y2 is Yshown consisting of a concave focusing cathode button illustrating the above of the `filament. l2 has a connecting lead 13 that is supported upon and electrically connected to a substantially semifrusto-conical sheet metal support 14 (see also Fig. 5A) as of molybdenum. The other vside of the lament has a supporting lead similarly extending downwardly at 1 3 that is connected to a similar semifrusto-conical sheet metal support 14. As shown in Fig. 5A these semifrusto-conical supports slightly overlap without contacting each other whereby they serve to prevent undesired outward radiation of heat and electrons from the lilament i2. The members '14 and lli extend downwardly to substantially semiannular separated plates l5 and 15 which .in turn are respectively connected by tubular members 16 and lo as of kovar to electrically independent annular contact rings 17 and l' also of kovar which are retained in assembled relation though electrically separated by an annular glass seal 1S. The power supply 10 supplies operating potentials to the tube elements through cathode lead 94D, filament leads 9i and 92, resonator lead 93, drift tube lead 9d, and collector lead 47.

` The cathode button 1l is supported upon a tubular support 19 as of tantalum that is flared out at its lower end and hanged and secured upon a second tubular support 2i) which has its lower portion rigidly connected as by welding to hollow semifrusto-conical supporting member 21 as of molybdenum which has its lower end carried by an annular contact ring assembly 22. Ring assembly 22and the cathode assembly of which it is a part are The cathode button tubular support 19 is -shown surrounded by a tubular heat shield 23 carried by tube 19 to prevent radial emission of heat from the button and from the filament. The upper portion of tubular support 2u is formed to retain an annular insulating member 24 as of ceramic which inwardly overhanging free end `for directing the electrons into the flared throat 27 of the resonator housing 28. An amplitude modulating grid 29 of concave configuration to conform to the cathode button is shown carried by a tubular member 30 as o f tantalum confined within and carried by the focusing member 25 so that this latter member and grid 29 are at the same potential. Members 25 and 30 are electrically connected by a lead 31 to a tubular conductor 32 terminating at 33, carried by glass seal 34 and having an external focusing and `modulating p'otential'supply lead As thusly constructed the cathode button 11, heating filament l2, grid 29 and focusing electrode 25 are all rigidly supported within the tube stern o'f cathode assem- .b1y2 so that the tube is ,Substantially norlmicrophgns- Also, the concentric arrangement of the various tubular members provides adequate heat shielding of the cathode and iilament. The electron beam leaving the cathode 11 and-passing through throat 27 of the resonator housing enters the cavity resonator 35 and passes through the velocity modulation gap of the resonator into the hollow dritt tube 36. Drift tube 36 is of the floating kidney type in that it is supported within the resonator 3S without actually dividing this resonator into two resonators. Thus, the space between one end of the drift tube 36 and the beam ingress opening 27 constitutes the velocity modulation region of the single resonator 35 and the space between the other end of the drift tube and the exit throat 37 constitutes the energy extraction region of this resonator. The exit throat 37 is ared oppositely to that of the ingress throat 27 to accommodate a diverging beam.

Thus, the beam leaving the cathode button 11 will converge as it passes within throat 27 reaching its minimum diameter in the gaps of resonator 35 and will start to expand as it enters throat 37, the coniguration of this throat accommodating this expansion. Beyond the throat 37 the beam passes on and into the collector 38. The collector 3S is of substantially cylindrical shape and may be made of copper or other good conducting metal and has a beam receiving cylindrical recess 39 terminating in a curved portion 40 of progressively decreasing diameter. In order to eliminate hot spots from forming in this collector it is desirable that the curve as shown at 4G possess a shape such that all portions of this area will receive equal quantities of electrons in operation. it can be shown that with a uniform parallel beam entering the held three collector space the spread of the beam under space charge forces results in the electrons following paths described by the equation:

(l R112 =2j` n eidu where L To (r=radius of electron path which entered at radius ro)y z=axial distance from source,

I=current inside radius rn, and

V--beam voltage.

From the above information a plot can be made of the curve 40 such that uniform power density obtains in use over substantially the entire Surface of the concavely curved outer end portion of the cavity 39. It will be noted that the cavity 39 has substantially the shape of a projectile shell as shown in Fig. 6.

For further aid in preventing overheating of the collector 38 the same is provided with double'helical peripheral coolant conveying grooves 41 and 42. The lead of the helical grooves 41 and 42 along the length of collector 38 is twice the pitch of these grooves whereby each groove is independent of the other. Thus a coolant such as water entering a tube 43 communicating with groove 41 will pass along the periphery of the collector 3S in helical fashion until the same reaches an annular groove 45 at the inner end of the collector. From the annular groove 45 the coolant iiows into helical groove 42 and passes backwardly along the periphery of the collector 38 in helical fashion until this coolant emerges into exit tube 44. A cylindrical sleeve 46 titting snugly on the collector 38 serves to retain the coolant during its passage around the collector.

To still further prevent overheating of the collector the same is preferably operated at a potential somewhat higher than that of the resonator assembly 4. This is better shown in connection with Fig. l wherein the collector lead 47 is shown connected to power supply 10 at a more positive potential than that of the resonator assembly. In this Way positively charged ions forming within the cavity 39 of the collector are repelled towards the wall of the resonator assembly and hence are not allowed to collect in sufficient quantity to focus the beam within the collector and cause the same to burn out the end wall of the collector adjacent the pointed end of the recess 39--40. The collector is supported from a substantially conical pole piece 48 of magnetic material attached to the resonator body. This is accomplised by use of a supporting ring 49 secured upon the tube 46 substantially midway of the length thereof and connected through sleeve member 50, glass seal S1 and sleeve member 52 to the pole piece 48. The seal 51 serves to insulate the collector assembly from the pole piece 48 and the tube resonator.

The pole piece 4S carries a hollow cylindrical armature 53 upon which is mounted focusing coils 8 (see also Fig. l). Similarly a substantially conical pole piece 54 is attached to the resonator housing 28 in surrounding relation to the ingress throat 27 and is connected to' a cylindrical armatureV 5S carrying focusing coils 8. The magnetic path for coils 8 and 8' is through armature 55, pole piece 54 through the cavity resonator, pole piece 48, armature S3 and back to armature 55 via the supporting frame structure 9.

The drift tube 36 is rigidly supported within the cavity 35 in spaced relation with respect to' the walls of the cavity and with respect to the throats 2.7 and 37 by means of a hollow rectangular arm S6 having a central dividing septum 57 (see particularly Figs. 5 and 8). The arm 56 is carried by a cylindrical block S8 that in turn is carried by a tubular member 59 extending outwardly from the body of the tube. The outer end portion of member 59 is connected in turn through a sleeve assembly 60 and through a vitreous seal 61 and sleeve structure 62 to the resonator housing 28 so that in effect the arm 56 carrying the drift tube 36 is rigidly supported through the various members mentioned upon the resonator housing through thoroughly insulated therefrom by the seal 61. This insulated drift tube feature forms the subject matter of a co-nending divisional application.

Thus it is possible to supply an independent voltage to the drift tube 36 so that this drift tube may be held at a voltage different from that of the cavity resonator. This is desirable in the tube of the present invention inasmuch as it is desired to tune the same over a wide range and this range is enhanced by being able to varv the potential on the drift tube with respect to the rest of the resonator, i.e. the resonator block 28. This resonator block or housing 2S is formed with an annular recess 63 surrounding Vthe support arm 56 substantially a ouarter wavelength of the operating frequency from the hollow resonator 35 so that this recess acts as a ouarter wave trap to prevent the escape of electromagnetic energy outwardly of the resonator and in surrounding relation to the arm 56. The spacing of block 5S from the cavity housing provides a second trap at 64 for this purpose to further prevent the escape of energy.

Circulating cooling fluid is supplied to tbe drift tube 36 via circulating tubes 65 and 65' carried by the block 58 which block is suitably bored to communicate with the hollow interior of arm 56. the septum 57 serving to separate the ingoing coolant from the outgoing coolant. The coolant is carried inwardly within the arm 56 and circulates around the drift tube in the manner shown by the arrows in Fig. 8 so that this tube is kept cool in use regardless of the number of electrons striking the same. The resonator 35 is provided with an energv output opening 66 feeding into a waveguide opening 67 provided in the resonator block or housing 28. The waveguide opening 67 communicates with a waveguide structure 68 eirtending outwardly from the housing 28 and provided with an end iiange 69 carrying a sealing window 70. The tiange 69 is adapted to be attached to a waveguide ange for conveying energy to a load. The resonator asas-97a housing 28 of substantially block form is vprovided with coolant circulating passages 71 communicating with Water coolant ingress and exit pipes 72 and 72' whereby,

this housing is maintained in a cool condition in use.

The cavity is tuned by use of novel dual tuning means of similar construction. As especially shown in Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 1l), these tuners comprise a choke-plunger movable short circuits. The tuner forms the subject matter of va co-pending divisional application.

In Fig. 9 the novel choke-plunger 73 is shown in detail. This plunger is of cylindrical cross-section and is movable within a waveguide 74 without Ytouching the walls of the guide. The upper and lower walls of the guide are kformed with centrally located projections 75 and 75' which substantially conform to the peripheral contour of the plunger without actually touching the same. The plunger .'73 has a length equal to substantially a quarter wavelength of the operating frequency of the resonator thereby 'providing a quarter wave trap at the point where the plunger supporting rod 76 extends outwardly from the plunger. Also the plunger is undercut at 77 (Fig. 8") and this undercut cooperates with a bearing support 78 to provide a second quarter wave trap to prevent the escape of energy outwardly which would otherwise tend to o'w 'owing to the concentric line structure of the plunger 73 and guide 74. The bearing support 78 is preferably of metal such as Monel metal or copper provided with a vitreous coating at 79 acting as a bearing upon the curved surfaces of the projections 75 and 75 of the waveguide.

The plunger rod 76 is made hollow and is provided with a central dividing septum 8f) serving to conduct cooling fluid along the rod to the end thereof` for cooling the plunger 73. The outer end portio'n of the plunger rod 76 extends into' and is carried by a cylindrical block Y81 to which the outer end of a Sylphon or bellows 82 is sealed, the inner end of the bellows being sealed to the inner end of a sleeve 83 carried by the resonator housing 28. Thus, the vacuum of the resonator extends into the interior of the bellows 82. The outer end portion of rod 76 is provided with coolant tubes 84 and S4 which permit coolant liuid to flow from one of these tubes through plunger 76 around the end of septum k80 within 'choke 73 and back out through tube84.

The assembly consisting of choke-plunger 73, plunger 4vrod 76 and block 81 is adapted to be moved longitudinally to effect the tuning of resonator 35. A micrometer screw 85 is employed for this purpose and the stem 86 thereof has a ball 87 secured to its inner end which ball sets within a socket member 8S attached to the end of block S1 so that as the micrometer screw 85 is adjusted the plunger 73 is moved gradually along the guide 74. The dual tuning means located on the opposite side of the cavity is identical with the tuning means just described and hence the parts thereof are similarly numbered.

The actio'n of the choke-plunger 73 in effecting tuning may be better described by a consideration of Fig. A. In this figure, 74 represents a conventional waveguide with a height of approximately 1/2 its width. An ordinary rectangular choke-plunger is shown in this waveguide which plunger has a uniform clearance around its periphery. The circumference of the transmission line provided by the space between this plunger and the periphery or" the guide is essentially 3a where a is the guide width. In addition to the co'axial TEM mode this transmission line will propagate all TE modes whose free space wavelength is less than where 2n is the number of field nodes for the mode in question. Since the waveguide is customarily used for wavelengths larger than, but approaching a, it will be seen that the plunger section can propagate the modes corresponding to' n==l and 11:2. There are two eachof these modes so a total of five modes are propagated.

In designing the novel cylindrical plunger 73 of this invention parasitic resonances in all these modes are avoided, bearing in mind that such resonances not only cause a large dissipation of energy but may result in overheating of the plunger and waveguide surfaces. vIn 10B there is shown schematically the'novel tuning plunger and associated waveguide of this invention. It -will be noted that the central portion of the waveguide is .deformed as by use of a cylindrical bore slightly larger than plunger 73 as shown in the figure or by use ,of projections `such'as 75 and 75 shown in Fig. 9 havingopposed surfaces of cylindrical shape so that a low impedance short-circuit is provided across the guide in the region ot 'high lelectric: field. This plunger section will propagate the TEM vlmode and the principal TELO mode. `Such venergy vis reflected back into kthe resonator by the quarter wave'section'of the plunger 73. At frequencies for v which the semicircumference of low impedance section indicated bv n in i012 is less than ahalf wavelength as is true in the design of tuner of the present invention, no other TE modes can be propagated. Thus, for the normal fre quency range of the waveguide we have only the TEM mode which we are using and the coaxial TEM mode which is always possible in a choke-plunger but which consumes Asubstantially no energy when used in j the plunger design o'f this invention. The reason that no other transmission line modes are present in the structure shown in 10B is lbecause of the large change of imped- Iance taking place at the endsof the upper and lower low "impedance sections c bearing in mind that the sections at the/opposite sides of the plunger have high `impedance owing Ato the large gap present. The structure of 10B is also easier to' manufacture than that of 19A because a'vcylindrical plunger and cylindrical bores are relatively Aeconomical to make. In the practical embodiment of the tube 'shown in the drawings. it was possible -to vary theffrequency of the tube from 7.5 kmc. to 11.5 kmc. by

-usingthe dual tuning means of this invention, which is arelatively enormous tuning range for a power klystron. Since many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodimentsofithisinvention could be made without departing :from ftherscope thereof, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. What is claimed is:

sembly disposed substantially at one end of the tubeand comprising, a cathode button, a thermionic emitter filament for heating said cathode button by electron bombardment and having the opposite ends thereof connected respectively to semifrusto-conical metallic supporting members disposed within said cathode assembly at substantially o-ne end of the tube apparatus and said supportlng members having overlapping though noncontacting edges whereby said members serve to convey heating current to said filament and to rigidly support said thermionic emitter filament.

2. A cathode assembly as defined in caim 12 wherein said cathode button is concave and includes, a tubular support for said button, a concave modulating grid conforming to said button, a tubular support for said mod- 1. An electron tube apparatus including a cathode aslnected respectively to said conducting annular members, and cathode elements supported upon said frusto-conical members whereby a rigid support for said elements is provided.

4. An electron tube apparatus including a cathode assembly disposed substantially at one end of the tube apparatus and comprising a thermionic electron emitter, a pair of hollow rusto-semiconical supporting members disposed within the cathode assembly and at substantially one end of the tube apparatus and positioned on opposite sides of said emitter connected respectively thereto and supporting the Same, said supporting members having their free end portions projected beyond said emitter for focusing electrons emitted therefrom, said supporting members having noncontacting side edges whereby said members-are insulated trom each other and serve to convey electrical current to said emitter, said members also serving to convey excess heat from said focusing end portions away from said emitter to prevent the overheating of these end portions.

5. In an electron tube apparatus, a cathode assembly comprising a cathode vacuum envelope, an annu`ar extension of said cathode envelope extending inwardly ot said envelope, a hollow frusto-conical support coupled to said inward extension, a lirst tubular support carried by said truste-conical support concentrically disposed and extending outwardly thereof, a tubular cathode emitter support coupled to said rst tubular support and concentrically disposed therewithin, an annular electrical insulator coupled to said first tubular support, a second tubular support coupled to said electrical insulator, a modulating grid coupled to said second tubular support and contained therewithin, and an extension of said second tubular support extending outwardly of said modulating grid thereby forminga focusing electrode.

6. In au electron tube apparatus, a cathode assembly comprising a hollow frusto-conical support, a iirst tubular support coupled to said frusto-conical support and extending outwardly of said conical support, a Second tubular support coupled to said rst tubular support, an insulator interposed between said rst and saidv second tubular supports thereby allowing different electrical potentials to be established between said first and said second tubular supports, a modulating grid carried by said second tubular support `and contained therewithin and an extension of said second tubuiar support extend-` ing outwardly of said modulating grid thereby providing a focusing electrode. Y

7. 1n an electron tube apparatus, an electron collector comprising a cylindrical member having an electron receiving cavity therein, said cavity comprising an initial cylindrical portion and a terminating concavely curved converging portion, said converging portion being so curved that a uniform parallel beam of electrons having trajectories parallel to the side walls of said cylindrical portion entering said cavity and spreading under space charge forces will dissipate electrons over said curved surface Substantially uniformly, said cylindrical member having coolant conveying helical grooves on its peripheral surface, the lead of said grooves being twice their pitch, sleeve means covering said cylindrical member for retaining coolant within said grooves, and means for lsupplying coolant so as to pass along said cylindrical member in one direction through one of said grooves and then to pass in the opposite direction along the other of said grooves to effect cooling of said member.

i References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITEDk STATES PATENTS Re. 22,580 Mourorntesel et al Dec. 19, 1944 2,078,360 Ziegenbein Apr. 27, 1937 2,177,703 Francis Oct. 31, 1939 2,239,416 Ehrenberg Apr. 22, 1941 2,250,511 Varian et al July 29, 1941 2,284,405 .McArthur May 26, 1942 2,396,802 Mourorntseff et al Mar. 19, 1946 2,398,829 Haeff Apr. 23, 1946 2,410,822 Kenyon Nov. 12, 1946 2,457,194 Anderson ec. 28, 1948 2,146,541 Hansell Feb. 7, 1949 2,510,639 Koch June 6, 1950 2,521,545 Shepherd Sept. 5, 1950 2,680,209 Veronda June l, 1954 2,687,490 Rich et al. Aug. 24, 1954 2,761,106 Posin Aug. 28, 1956 2,789,246 Wang Apr. 16, 1957 2,794,143 Warnecke et al May 28, 1957 2,812,468 Robertson Nov. 5, 1957 2,825,842 Kenyon Mar. 4, 1958 2,833,955 Marchese May 6, 1958 UNITED STATES PATENT oEEICE CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTlUN Patent No@ 2,928,972 March l5" 1960 Richard Be Nelson It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 3V line 32 for "three" read e free am; column 4 line 9, for "accomplised" read accomplished mg line l, for "carries" read mates with me; Column o, line 62V for the claim reference numeral "l2" read u l n' Signed and sealed this 8th day of November 19609 (SEAL) Attest:

KARL Ho AXLINE ROBERT C. WATS''N Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

